Santi Cosma e Damiano
'Santi Cosma e Damiano '''is an ancient church and minor basilica devoted to two Greek brothers named Cosmas and Damian who were doctors, martyrs and saints. It is located on the north side of the Roman Forum, and has the postal address of Via dei Fori Imperiali1. Pictures of the church at Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Santi_Cosma_e_Damiano_%28Rome%29 Overview This church has a complicated architectural history, which affects its present access arrangements. It was made up of two ancient Roman buildings with completely different functions, and belonging to two separate architectural ensembles. These two formed one church for centuries, until the two original buildings were separated again in the late 19th century. They are now inaccessible from one another. The main body of the church was formed from an ancillary building in the south corner of the tenemos enclosure of the Temple of Peace, often misnamed "Forum of Peace" or "Forum of Vespasian" (it was not a forum). This occupied the south-east part of the site of the Imperial Fora, and the fabric of the church is the only part of it to survive above ground. The entrance vestibule was formed from a circular temple in the Roman Forum, traditionally called the "Temple of Romulus" but conclusively identified by the archeologist Filippo Coarelli as the Temple of Jupiter Stator. It is important in the historical understanding of the church to remember that the main entrance used to be on the Roman Forum. After the mediaeval neighbourhood that used to occupy the forum was cleared in the 16th century, the forum formed a very important Christian sacred space until its excavation which began after 1870. This church occupied a central location in this. From west to east, the churches were: San Giuseppe dei Falegnami (Mamertine Prison), Santi Luca e Martina, Sant'Adriano (now the Senate House), Santa Maria Liberatrice al Foro Romano, San Lorenzo in Miranda, this church, Oratorio della Via Crucis nel Foro Romano, Santa Francesca Romana and finally the Colosseum which counts as a church in its own right -Santa Maria della Pietà al Colosseo. The archaeological excavations, undertaken for nationalist motivations, destroyed the integrity of this ensemble. In the process, the entrance vestibule of this church was deconsecrated and turned into an ancient monument. As a result, the basilica now has a modern entrance on the Via dei Fori Imperiali where no entrance used to exist (the original monastery entrance is round the corner in Via in Miranda). It should be open from 09:00 to 12:00, and 16:00 to 18:00. If you find it closed, try the old monastery entrance. The "Temple of Romulus" is only accessible on paying the entrance fee for the Forum and Palatine archaeological site. History Temple of Peace This was built by the emperor Vespasian and completed in the year 75, as a commemoration of his victory over the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. It formed an enormous square courtyard, with its major axis north-west to south-east, in line with the Imperial Fora. The north-west had a curtain wall with a monumental propylaeum entrance, and the two sides had colonnaded walkways. The courtyard itself was occupied by a formal garden. The temple itself was opposite the entrance, and was a simple and rather small apsidal hall with a hexastyle (six-column) frontage. It was flanked by continuations of the covered walkways (known as ''porticus, ''which is spelt the same singular or plural) and behind these were ancillary rooms or halls. One of these contained the famous ''Forma Urbis ''or Severan Marble Plan, which was the official public map of the city carved in marble on the south-western wall of the hall. This wall is still standing, to the left of the modern entrance -the rest of the hall, and all the rest of the complex, is beneath the Via dei Fori Imperiali. The part of the complex that was used for the basilica, and hence survived, comprised two rooms behind the wall with the map on it. These were tucked into the southern corner of the enclosure. The southern room was slightly wider than the northern one, and the partition between the two used to be where the triumphal arch now is. The northern room, including what is now the apse and the sacristies behind, had its own apse which is now gone. The function of these two rooms is unclear; they may have been the temple's library or, more likely given the existence of the apse, a place for meetings and lectures. The complex seems to have continued in use through the 4th century, but was deserted by the early 5th. It was a headquarters of the city's public medical service, and doctors on the government payroll seem to have practised here. This is circumstantial but persuasive evidence for the reason SS Cosmas and Damian were chosen as the church's patrons, since they are also patrons of the medical profession. Temple of Romulus This circular brick building was erected in the early 4th century. The bronze doors and doorcase were pillaged from some 2nd century building, and the flanking porphyry columns also came from elsewhere. The traditional identification links with a legend that Maxentius, the last emperor actually to reside at Rome, was so heartbroken at the death of his four-year-old son Romulus that he had him deified and provided this temple for him. Some scholars doubt that it was a temple at all, but rather an audience hall. Coarelli (see p. 42 of his ''Rome and Environs, an Archaeological Guide) ''puts forward a persuasive argument that it was a rebuilding of the ancient Temple of Jupiter Stator. The building used to be flanked by two narrow apsidal halls (the one on the right is in better condition), and these may have been the shrines of the Penates or household gods whose temple had to be demolished to make way for the Basilica of Maxentius. Foundation of church, and early days Santi Cosma e Damiano dates back to 527, when Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, and his daughter Amalasuntha donated the library of the Forum of the Peace and a portion of the so-called ''Temple of Romulus to Pope Felix IV. The pope united the two buildings to create a basilica devoted to two Greek brothers and saints, Cosma and Damian, in contrast with the ancient pagan cult of the two brothers Castor and Pollux, who had been worshipped in the close by Temple of Castor and Pollux. The apsis was decorated with a Roman-Byzantine mosaic, representing a parousia (coming at the end of time) of Christ. Middle Ages Baroque In 1632, Pope Urban VIII ordered the restoration of the basilica. The works, projected by Orazio Torriani and directed by Luigi Arrigucci, raised the floor level seven metres, bringing it equal with the Campo Vaccino, thus avoiding the infiltration of water. Also, a cloister was added. The old floor of the basilica is still visible in the inferior church, which is actually the lower part of the first church. Modern times In 1947, the restorations of the Imperial Forums gave a new structure to the church. The old entrance, through the Temple of Romulus, was closed, and the "temple" restored to its original forms; The Temple of Romulus is the best preserved pagan temple in Rome, together with the Pantheon. A new entrance was opened on the opposite side (on via dei Fori Imperiali), whose arch gives access to the cloister, and through this one to the side of the basilica. Exterior Next to the new entrance to the complex, there are the rooms with the original marble floor of the Forum of Peace, and the wall where the 150 marble slabs of the Forma Urbis Romae were hung. Through the cloister, the entrance to the church opens on the side of the single nave. The plant of the basilica was designed according to the norms of the Counter-Reformation: a single nave, with three chapels per side, and the big apsis, which now looks quite oversized because of the reduction in height of the 17th century restoration, framed by the triumphal arch, also mutilated by that restoration. Interior A masterpiece of 6th-7th century art is the mosaic. In the middle is Christ, with Saint Peter presenting Saint Cosmas and Saint Teodorus (right), and Saint Paul presenting Saint Damian and Pope Felix IV; the latter holds a model of the church. References * Apollonj Ghetti, B. M: Nuove Considerazioni sulla Basilica Romana dei SS Cosma e Damiano. ''Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 50, 1974. * Coarelli, Antonio: ''Rome and Environs, an Archaeological Guide. ''University of California, 2007. * Flaccomio, G. et al: ''Il "Tempio di Romolo" al Foro Romano. Quaderni dell' Instituto di Storia dell' Architettura 26, Sapienza, Rome, 1980. * Iamurri, L: Santi Cosma e Damiano. ''Roma Sacra 3, 1995. * Matthiae, G: ''Pittura Romana de Medioevo Vol 1, Secoli IV-X. ''Rome 1987. * Roma Archeologica: ''Le Chiese Paleocristiane di Roma, ''Rome 2003. * Touring Club Italiano: ''Roma, 2004, pp. 276-277. * Watkin, David: The Roman Forum. ''Profile Books, 2009. * ''Santi Cosma e Damiano at roma.katolsk.no (website closed, all content moved to this wiki) External links * Photo Category:Catholic churches Category:Titular churches Category:Minor basilicas Category:Rione Campitelli Category:Forums and Palatine Category:Dedications to Saints Cosmas and Damian Category:6th century